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A. S. ELMORE PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFAGTURINGOOPPER TUBES. No.464,351. Patented Dec. 1, 1891.

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A. s. ELMORE PROOFS-5 OF AND APPARATUSFOR'MANUFACTURING COPPER. TUBES.

No. 464,351. PatentedDec. 1, 1891.

(No Model.)

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.Patented Dec. 1,1891.

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' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ALEXANDER STANLEY ELMORE, OF LEEDS,ENGLAND.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING COPPER TUBES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 464,351, dated December1, 1891.

Application filed December 18 1890. Serial No. 375,141- (No model.)Patented in France November 18, 1890, No. 209,602; in Belgium November18, 1890, No. 92,771; in Switzerland November 18, 1890, No. 2,999; inLuxemburg November 18, 1890, No. 1,375; in Norway November 18, 1890, No.2,082; in England November 21, 1890, No. 18,896; in Italy December 3,1890, LVI, 157; in Turkey December 17, 1890, N0. 215: in Cape of GoodHope January 6, 1891, No. 160/658; in Victoria, January 12, 1891, No.8,414; in New South Wales January 12, 1891, No. 2,731; in SouthAustralia January 18, 1891, No. 1,822; in Spain January 13,1891,No.11,472; in Queensland January 15, 1891, No. 1,231; in Tasmania January15,1891,No. 844/10; in New Zealand January 23, 1891, No; 4,810; inAustria-Hungary April22, 1891, No. 51,902 and No. 3,907; in Canada April24, 1891, No. 36,468, and in Western Australia August 4, 1891,N0. 279. I

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER STANLEY ELMORE, a citizen of England,residing at Spring Grove, Hunslett, Leeds, in the county of York,England, have invented a new and useful Process of and Apparatus forManufacturing Copper Tubes, Sheets, Strips, and Wires by Electrolysis,(for which I have obtained patents in Great Britain, No. 18,896, datedNovember 21, 1890; in France, No. 209,602, dated November 18, 1890; inAustria- Hungary, No. 51,902 3,907, dated April 22, 1891; in Belgium,No. 92,771, dated November 18, 1890; in Switzerland, No. 2,999, datedNovember 18,1890; in Spain, No. 11,472, dated January 13, 1891; inLuxemburg, No. 1,375, dated November 18, 1890 ;'in Italy, Vol. LVI, 157,dated December 3, 1890; in Norway, No. 2,082, dated November 18, 1890;in Victoria, No. 8,414, dated J anuary12, 1891; in New South \Vales, No.2,731, dated January 12, 1891; in New Zealand, No. 4,810, dated January23, 1891; in Cape of Good Hope, 0 O 160, Folio 658, dated January 6,1891; in South Australia, No. 1,822, dated January 13, 1891; inQueensland, No. 1,231, dated January 15, 1891; in Tasmania, No. 844 10,dated January 15, 1891; in Canada, No. 36,468, dated April 24, 1891; inTurkey, No. 215, dated December 17, 1890, and in Western Australia, No.279, dated August 4, 1891,) of which the following is a specification.

It has been proposed to manufacture tubes by electrolytically depositingmetal on revolving mandrels and rendering the deposited metal firm,sound, and compact by burnishing it as it is deposited by means ofburnishers caused to travel to and fro along the surface as'it revolves.The tubes thus electrolytically manufactured in their entire conditionare available as strong and sound pipes or conduits for fluids, or,according to descriptions given in other patent specifications, they aredivided by straight or helical cuts and unbent, so as to form sheets,strips, or wires of sound and homogeneous character.

' The present invention consists in improvevmerits in this process andin the apparatus by which it is conducted.

The process according to my present invention for depositing copper isconducted as folerably hollow for the sake of lightness, and I fix thison a non-conducting spindle, which may be of wood. I mount themandrel-spindle in non-conducting bearings, which may be of glass, in anelectrolytic bath, connecting the mandrel by a brush to one terminal ofa voltaic battery, dynamo-electric machine, or other source ofelectricity, so as to form a cathode, and connecting a suitable anode tothe other terminal. I form the anode of two sheets of copper, one oneach side of the bath, and I charge the bath with a solution of doublecyanide of copper and potassium, the solution containing about one part,by weight,of the salt to twenty parts of water, and the temperaturebeing, preferably, about to centigrade. The mandrel, having been causedto revolve in this bath with the electrical action continued for about aquarter of an hour, becomes coated with a layer of copper, and then itis taken out and exposed for about the same time to the air, by whichthe surfacebecomes oxidized, so that anotherlayer of copper deposited onit will not adhere to it. The mandrel thus prepared with an oxidizedcoating of copperis" now placed in another bath,which has for its anodea perforated plate: of copper supported at a little distance above thebottom of the bath and carrying a thick layer of granulated copper. Inaddition to this anode plates of copper may be placed on the bottomplate so as to stand upright on each side of the mandrel. The solu tionin this bath consists of sulphate of copper with a certain amount offree sulphuric acid. The proportions may be varied; but I find that instarting the bath about three parts, by weigh t, ofsulphate-of-coppercrystals and one part of acid to twenty parts of water make a goodmixture, to which from time to time a little acid has to be added. Themandeposited, the surface of each layer has to be heated to preventadhesion of the next layer. This can be effected by running off thecontents of the bath and exposing the metal for a short time tooxidation or by varnishing the surface of the deposited metal witha-thin coating of solution of wax in alcohol. hen no particular regardis to'be had to the surface polish, a rapid and easy method ofpreventing adhesion is simply to reverse the electrical current for avery short time, thus producing a film of oxide on the surface of themetal. WVhen the metal is deposited to sufficient thickness. to form atube or when a sufficient number of successive thicknesses have beendeposited, the mandrel, with the metal on it, is removed from the bathand subjected in a machine, presently to be described, topressing-rollers, which are made to travel along it longitudinally.somewhat extending the periphery of the deposited metal loosen it fromthe mandrel, so that itcan be readily removed therefrom. The tube thusremoved from the mandrel may be used as a pipe, or it may be cutlongitudinally and unbent to form a sheet or cut helically to form along continuous strip or a rod which can be drawn to wire, and whenseveral thicknesses have been deposited they can all be cut at oneoperation, producing a number of sheets, strips, or wire rods.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings is a plan, and Fig. 2 is alongitudinal section, showing the first, second, and part of the thirdof two continuous rows of electrolytic baths for the deposit of thecopper on the revolving mandrels with the gearing for causing themandrels to revolve and the burnishers to travel to and fro along thesurface of the deposited metal. Fig. 3 is a transverse section on X X toan enlarged scale. The baths A may be made of wood made water-proof by alining of resinous or like material.

A little above the bottom of each bath is supported a perforated plate13, of copper, covered with a thick layer 0 of granulated cop- .per, andstanding on the plate B are two upright plates D, of copper, one on eachside of the mandrel E, on which the copper is deposited. A shaft F,driven by any suitable motor, is mounted between the two rows of bathsand extends along them,having on it pulleys G, which by belts drivepulleys H, one for each bath, and from the spindles of these pulleys themandrels E are driven by chain gearing. The spindle of each mandrel,which is of wood, turns in bearings, one at. each end, zonsisting of twoplates 6, of glass, placed at m angle in a wooden block, and over thespinlle is a bar 6, of wood, to prevent it from beng lifted out of itsbearing. Over the cen- These rollers by tral space, between the two endbaths, is mounted a screwed spindle K connected by a shifting-clutch 7ato either of two pulleys L L, revolving in opposite directions. Theclutch "7c is jointed to a lever M, which is surmounted by a tumblingweight and is linked to a rod N, that extends above the screw K and hason it two collars a n, fronted by springs. A cross-head 0 forms the nutof'the screw K and has an arm 0 standing up from it and embracing therod N. The cross-head O is fixed on a sliding rod 1, which extends thewhole length-of the row of baths and has fixed on it cross-heads 0, onefor each bath. These cross-heads O, as well as the first cross-head 0,have removable arms 0 projecting from them, and on these are pivoted theburnishing-tools Q, which can be adjusted along slots in the arms 0 soas to press obliquely on the surface of the mandrel E, their pressurebeing regulated by an elastic band g, which can be strained more or lessto catch on one or other of a set of hooks q. Assuming that the screw Kis driven by the pulley L so as to turn in the one direction, causingthe cross head O to travel toward the right, and with it the rod P andall the other cross-heads O and their arms 0 so that all theburnishing-tools Q move along the surfaces of their respective mandrels,which at the same time are caused to revolve by their connections to theshaft F, then when the arm 0 approaches the stop collar 12 it firstcompresses the spring, then moves the rod N, causing the lever M totumble over, disengaging the clutch from the pulley L and engaging itwith the oppositelyrevolving pulley L". The rotation of the screw Kbeing thus reversed, the cross-head O, the rod P, and allthe othercross-heads 0, arms 0 and their burnishing-tools Q now travel back untilthe arm 0, acting on the stop collar n, again causes reversal of thescrew K.

Fig. 4 is an end view,- partly in section. Fig. 5 is a side view, andFig. 6 is a plan, of the roller apparatus whereby the shell of depositedmetal is released from the mandrel.

IIO

The mandrel E, with the shell of metal on it,

A slide S, which by means of a screw S can be moved along the bed of themachine, carries three rollers T T T The two lower rollers T T can beadjusted to or from the central line of the bed by a right and lefthanded screw 25. The upper roller T is carried by a lever U, which ispivoted to a verti cal slide u, capable of being raised or lowered by ascrew a, and the other end of this lever is adjustably linked to anotherlever V, carrying an adjustable weight o. The mandrel E, with itscoating of deposited metal, being caused to revolve, the slide S, withits rollers,

vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I claim- 1. Theprocess herein described for manufacturing copper tubes by electrolysis,which consists in coating a mandrel by moistening it with a solution ofcyanide of copper, mounting the mandrel as a cathode in an electrolyticbath charged with an acidulated solution of sulphate of copper andhaving granulated copper and copper plates arranged as anodes connectingthe cathode and anodes to a source of electricity, causing the mandrelto revolve, moving burnishing-tools to and fro along the surface of therevolving mandrel, and finally, when the deposit is of the desiredthickness,

removing the mandrel and its coating from the bath and subjecting it toroller-pressure along its length to loosen and release the de-.

posited tube, substantially asset forth.

2. The process hereimdescribed for manufacturing copper tubes byelectrolysis, which consists in subjecting mandrels to the action of abath of cyanide of copper, placing the mandrels in electrolytic bathscharged with acidulated solution of sulphate of copper and havinggranulated copper and copper plates arranged as anodes and the mandrelsas cathodes connected to a source of electricity, revolving themandrels,depositing successive layers of copper on the mandrels, coating eachdeposited layer of copper with a substance to prevent adhesion, causingburnishing-tools to travel to and fro along the mandrels, and finally,when the deposit is of the desired thickness, removing the mandrels andtheir coating from the bath and subjecting them to the pressure ofrollers traveling along their length to loosen and release the depositedlayers, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with a series of electrolytic baths A, arranged intwo parallel rows, of the mandrels E, supported and arranged to revolvein the baths, the shaft F, arranged centrally between the two rows ofbaths and provided with the pulleys G, the pulleys H, the chain gearingbetween the la ter and the mandrels, and connections between thepulleys, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with a series of electrolytic baths A, arranged intwo parallel rows, of the rotary mandrels E, supported and arranged torevolve in the baths, the drivingshaft F, connections between thedrivingshaft and the mandrels for rotating the latter, a screw-spindleK, arranged centrally between the two rows of baths, a cross-head 0,arranged in screw-threaded engagement with the screw-spindle and havingthe arm 0, the horizontal rod N, having collars n n and extendingthrough the arm of the cross-head, the longitudinally-sliding rod P,secured to the cross-head which engages the screw-spindle and havingcross-heads O, the arms 0 secured to the respective cross-heads andprovided with burnishing-tools Q, arranged, respectively, in properrelation to the mandrels, the reversing-pulleys L L for rotating thescrew-spindle, the clutch is between the reversing-pulleys, and thetumbling-lever M, connected with the clutch and with the horizontal rod,substantially as described.

In testimonywhereof Ihave signed my name to this specification, in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses, this 4th day of December, A. D.1890.

ALEXANDER STANLEY ELMORE.

\Vitnesses:

WILLIAM VEVERS, HENRY S. LENTY, Clerks to T. o'md-I-I. Greenwood Teale,Solrs.

and Notaries Public, Leeds, England.

